Yesterday’s News…

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Did you watch the Super Bowl last night? I did, sorta. I watched the halftime show and commercials and messed around on Twitter the rest of the time. The thing I was most interested in was Justin Timberlake’s performance at the DIRECTV party Saturday night. Not much video available yet, but here’s a peek at what went on.

Oh, to have attended that show. But at least I got to attend Beyonce’s halftime show from my living room.

All the high energy dancing and fierceness that we want to see from Beyonce. Loved the Destiny’s Child reunion on stage and appreciated that Beyonce gave them both a turn in the middle. Beyonce always looks flawless and gives a great performance. And after the presidential inauguration lip-synching scandal, it was guaranteed that she would sing live for the show and bring her A-game. It was Alicia Keys that really won me over though, with her understated, note-perfect anthem, her piano on the field with her.

Overall, the commercials were much better this year than in previous years. I watched as many as I could in advance because I love commercials that much, but there were still tons I hadn’t seen yet. Here are the ones I found to be the most notable.

Star-studded

Mercedes-Benz. Selling one’s soul to the devil for a luxury car? Great concept.

Samsung Mobile. The next big thing. Love the casting. Really love the tagline.

Got Milk? This national campaign has been going on for years and has utilized so many celebrities. This extended version was done on such a grand scale, how can you not love it?

Best Buy. I was really looking forward to this one. What a disappointment. Amy Poehler deserved better material than this.

Touching

Budweiser. Not gonna lie. This one made me cry.

Dodge Ram Trucks. God Made a Farmer. Voiced by Paul Harvey, this was simply beautiful.

Funniest

Volkswagen. I’m always watching the VW commercials closely, because they were historically so good at advertising. Before they got bad, that is. When I was an advertising student in college we talked about VW a lot, and their campaigns were truly groundbreaking. Companies like Apple and Target have employed similar methods, but VW was first. Anyway, this one cracks me up.

Toyota RAV4. This “wish granted” commercial features the car quite a bit for such a kooky, nontraditional car ad. Brilliant.

Doritos. This fan-made commercial is my favorite of the night. I’ve already watched it more times than I want to admit.

Um, what?

Calvin Klein. This was an absurd ad to air at this time and I loved it. I’m not sure if it was targeted more towards women or gay men, but it created plenty of buzz on social media.

Taco Bell. Viva Young might be a funny concept, but this wasn’t done well. I’m not sure what age group the young target is here, but only the truly immature would find this comical. It’s mostly just an overused cliche.

GoDaddy. I’m glad I changed my hosting a long time ago. I don’t mind their normal sexist Super Bowl ads, because it creates buzz and works for them. They are HUGE compared to other hosting companies. But this is so poorly done and so gross that it offends me. Not as a woman, but creatively. It’s just garbage.

Pistachios. This ad starring Psy is another part of this wacky campaign featuring bizarre celebrities. It’s silly and well, nutty. Perfect.

Most fun

Coca Cola has such a polished advertising legacy. They always get it right, whether they are doing sexy commercials, funny, family-oriented, edgy, you name it. This two-part ad is just pure fun and let viewers determine the outcome of the race.